


Changes

by Gold_and_Rubies



Series: Amelia and Butch [1]
Category: Fallout (Video Games), Fallout 3
Genre: Apologies, Denial of Feelings, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Feelings Realization, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, POV Third Person
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-11
Updated: 2020-11-11
Packaged: 2021-03-09 21:14:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 786
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27502876
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gold_and_Rubies/pseuds/Gold_and_Rubies
Summary: After Amelia asks him why he really wanted to leave the Vault, he finally opens up to someone about what he had gone through.
Relationships: Butch DeLoria & Female Lone Wanderer, Butch DeLoria/Female Lone Wanderer, Butch DeLoria/Lone Wanderer
Series: Amelia and Butch [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2009986
Kudos: 7





	Changes

**Author's Note:**

> I honestly don't know what this is

Butch sat on one end of the couch in Amelia’s house in Magaton, as she was curled up on the otherside. He was using his switchblade to clean the underside of his nails. 

He glanced at her. She was picking at the label of her Nuka-Cola bottle with a frown. A handful of black hairs were threatening to fall from her bun, and into her face. He wanted to reach over and push them behind her ear. 

He shook his head. Where the hell had that thought come from? Thoughts like that kept creeping into his head. If he didn’t know any better he’d think he was starting to like her. Well, more than a friend. 

It turns out that having to rely on someone in the wasteland practically guarantees a friendship. Even if it was one of the people he used to bully. Though, out of everyone from the Vault, he wouldn’t have thought it would’ve been Amelia. 

He was grateful, though, that it was her. She was clever, more than he realized. She didn’t take crap from anyone, which had annoyed him when she did it to him, but it turned into a valuable skill. She was tough, despite or because of what she had gone through, but she still never went out of her way to hurt anyone. No matter how much pain she was in. Unlike him. 

“I’m sorry,” the words came tumbling out of his mouth before he realized what he was saying, but he meant it. 

“What?” she asked, looking up at him. Her frown was gone, but her eyebrows remained furrowed. 

“I’m sorry,” he repeated, more sure this time. 

She gave him a confused look, “...For?” 

“How I treated you in the Vault. It wasn’t right.” 

“Oh, well, thank you, but you didn’t need to apologize. We’re good now.” 

He shook his head, “No, I did. I’ve seen how you treat people. No matter what happens you never treat people like I did. I shouldn’t have been a dick to you, or most of the people in Vault.” 

He felt her shift, and move so she was sitting next to him. They weren’t touching, but he could feel her next to him. 

“Butch, _it’s okay_. You’ve taken a few bullets for me. I think that makes up for what you did.” 

“Yeah, but it doesn’t change what I did,” He paused, biting his lip nervously. He had never opened up to anyone about what was really going through his head. What really happened, but if anyone was going to listen it would be her. 

“I think you know my mom had drinking issues… I think everyone did, but no one knows what kind of shit she’d say. She was somehow worse when she was sober. She always made me feel like I wasn’t good enough when I tried to be good, and tell me how horrible I was when I didn’t. Not having a dad didn’t do wonders. Then every other adult would just treat me like shit for acting out. It’d just get worse and worse and worse.” 

His voice broke, “Then I’d look at you. You had a parent who loved you, and treated you like it. You had friends who were definitely friends with you, because they genuinely liked you. The adults treated you with respect. And I was jealous, of you, of Amata, of everyone. And I took it out on everyone around me. I shouldn’t have done that.” 

“Butch… I’m so sorry,” she placed her hand on top of his hesitantly, “but you are not whatever she told you you are. Yeah, you were a dick, but you were a kid, you didn’t deserve that. And that is not what you are now. You’re a different person now that you’ve left the Vault. Who you are now is what matters, and the new Butch, is well, far better than the old one.” 

He looked at her. Her eyebrows were furrowed in worry, and her eyes were impossibly soft. She looked at him like she actually cared about him. No one had ever looked at him like that. He had to stop looking at her when his eyes started burning. 

He scratched the back of his neck and cleared his throat, “Thanks, Amelia.” 

“Of course, and Butch,” she grabbed his arm gently, causing his breath to catch in his throat, “I mean what I said. Wholeheartedly.” 

“I know you do, Nosebleed.” 

She scoffed before softly bumping his shoulder. She stretched as she stood up, “Want to get some drinks?” 

“Or what? Let my best gal drink alone? ‘Course I do.” 

She really was his best gal, even as much as he tried to deny it.

**Author's Note:**

> I know I said I wouldn't write a full on fic about them, but I meant multi-chapter. One shots are different.


End file.
